The Tribute
by Tunz-Of-Fun
Summary: First EVER try at something like this so please R&R. General Buffy-Ness. Buffy and her Entourage Visit England to Find and Protect some..THING. Set Mid 5th season. After Riley's departure.
1. The Best place to Start:The Beginning

Buffy's temples pulsed in pain. Her headache had started a few hours ago and she couldn't get rid of it. She had tried everything, and was beginning to consider a head transplant. What made it worse was that it was raining and every soft patter of droplets on her window was resonating through her like a bass drumbeat. It was raining, she had a headache.and it was Tuesday. "Some thing bad is gonna happen..." She thought. "Bad things ALWAYS happen on a Tuesday ". She really didn't know if there was any foundation for this, but thinking it made her feel a little better. Buffy reached for her glass of water without looking, her eyes resting on the textbooks before her, without really reading. The glass of water hit the floor with a dull wet thud, the clear liquid spilling onto her new carpet. She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Let's just hope this is all..." She cleared the spilt water and returned to her studying.  
  
Giles liked the rain, He liked the way that it pattered against the glass panes of his windows. Letting out a deep, satisfied sigh he took a bite out of the biscuit he was eating, and sipped at the accompanying hot tea. Closing his eyes softly, took a deep breath whilst his nose hovered over the honey colored liquid of the tea, the crisp scent filled his senses. Leaving his eyes closed, Giles focused on the soft caressing pitter-patter of the raindrops on his windows, the sound relaxed him, it reminded him of home. When he had indulged himself in the moment to his satisfaction, he allowed his eyes to open slowly. Which scanned the spine of the book he had been reading "The Tribute". Its cover was thick leather, aged; yet sturdy, Giles mused that this must have been how Buffy, Xander and the others saw him. His fingers ran over the embossed cover, tracing the outlines of the simple image there on the cover. A simplistic female body. He smiled slowly, the sounds of the rain entering back into his ears. Closing his eyes again he merely thought that nothing bad could happen tonight. Everything was perfect.  
  
Somewhere in Sunnydale, a large ball of soggy tissue sailed through the air. Its arc conveyed it precisely into the trashcan. He could do it with his eyes closed at the moment; he'd had a lot of practice. You see he was just recovering from a cold, and he'd lost count of the amount of times he'd blown his nose. Sure, Anya had done her best TLC thing, but at the end of the day, Xander just wanted to see the end of this "Cold from Hell". He'd even contemplated going to the store and buying one of those little basketball hoops executives hang over their trashcans. He swore that by now he'd have broken the NBA scoring record. Xander Sniffed as he watched the advertisements during a break in a Jackie Chan movie, then sighed, he needed something to help him cheer up, so he went to the kitchen and sought solace in the fridge. his fingers clasped around a bottle and he lifted it out of the fridge. "Dr. Pepper" he read aloud, and then remembered the adverts "What's the worst that could happen?"  
  
Willow lay on her bed and gazed out of her open window at the raindrops, she softly extended a hand outside and let the droplets of rain fall onto it, the rain was heavy, but still she loved the sensation of the rain on her soft skin. The candles that lit her otherwise dark room flickered a little under the drafts, but they stay lit. Tara knocked on the door slightly and after cracking the door open, poked her head in, "Hey you." she said "I've got a present for you." Willow brought her hand back inside, looked around and raised a brow, Tara, pushed the door all the way open to reveal to big mugs of Hot Chocolate. Willows eyes lit up like a kid in a sweet shop as Tara walked inside, set the mugs down and sank slowly on to the bed next to Willow, It was at this point Willow thought "This is turning into the Perfect night."  
  
In an Alley near the center of town, the glowing end of a cigarette burned brightly in the shadows as Spike inhaled. He was here, trying to take cover from the rain, he hated getting wet. He never knew why. It was just something that bugged him. Always had and, probably, always would. For some reason that he couldn't explain, he was angry. He just had the urge to hurt something, and hurt it badly. He exhaled the Smoke and raised the bottle of Jack Daniels he was holding to his lips to take a drink. But then he stopped; he lowered the bottle again as his focus fixed on something. He flicked the stub of his cigarette across the alley, took a swift swig of the JD and re-capped it, he let a little grin spread across his face and headed out into the rain. 


	2. Dreams to Reality

~*~  
  
It was getting on towards midnight that night when Buffy managed to get some sleep. To be honest, it was napping more than sleeping. It was like that was all she could manage to do recently. No-one knew why and although she had tried everything she could think of she just could not sleep. Buffy hadn't had a good night's sleep in what seemed to be years but more accurately was about 4 months. Her chest rose and fell shallowly and Her eyelids flickered as she dreamt.  
  
Buffy was walking though Sunnydale Park, slowly, with Xander and Willow. Willow was talking about an experiment that Tara and she had tried, and ended up with singed eyebrows, Buffy and Xander dropped their heads and laughed softly, imagining the image of Willow with little to no eyebrows. Just then Buffy's head snapped up and looked around, eyes narrowing. She felt like she was being watched. Looking round to see if Xander and Willow had noticed it too, they were nowhere in sight, they were gone...not in the distance, just GONE... Buffy looked around again, still having the dread feeling of unseen eyes watching her. She whet her lips and balled her hands into fists,. she started to edge along the path. She took a deep breath. "XANDER..." She called. "WILLOW???" She called again. There was no reply. Buffy Backed round a copse of trees and then she realizes that She'd never seen this part of the park before. It was dark, and the trees were twisted and distorted, the bark misshapen, when she looked at them closely, she could almost find faces in them, grinning evilly at her. Buffy shuddered and took a deep breath, then started to cough, the air was suddenly think with sulphur, no explanation as to why filling, it was filling her lungs. Her eyes began to water and then she heard a high-pitched agonized scream. Her Blonde hair trailed behind her as she ran, as she did, the trees seemed to try and stop her, lifting twisted roots and flailing branches in an attempt to trip or hit her. Vaulting and ducking to avoid those obstacles was no problem for Buffy, Giles had trained her well. She followed the sound of the second scream that emanated a little while after. Finally breaking though into the clearing, She skidded to a halt and her jaw dropped open at what she saw in front of her.  
  
It was them. Xander and Willow. They were hung several feet in the air from a wall of the same, distorted, wood. Crucified. Their clothes were torn and their heads sagged lifelessly low. Buffy took hesitant steps towards the pair, for all she knew it might be a trap. Thousands of scenarios ran though her mind, but the worst of all still lingered in the back of her mind. Her friends were dead, but she fought that idea and pressed on.  
  
When she reached them, she saw that each of their necks were smeared red with blood, from the puncture wounds found there. Bite Marks... a cold shiver ran the length of Buffy's spine, as if someone were walking over her grave. That worst scenario was true. She looked round swiftly, once again seeing nothing but blackness and trees. But feeling those eyes watching her made her nervous. After a short while she looked back to where her friends hung lifeless, she moved over to Willow and sniffed back the tears.  
  
"Oh, Will..." she sniffed again. Buffy reached a quivering hand towards the puncture wounds in her friends' neck. But retracted her hand before she actually made contact, she lost the fight against the tears as they started to roll down her cheeks, she approached Xander's body, and it was then she saw the blood dripping wounds in her friends' hands' and feet. Stakes. Wooden stakes were being used to hold them up. Buffy's jaw set as her emotions switched gear, from sorrow, through fear and right on up into purest rage...something was going to die. Wooden stakes! Of all the mockeries! And her friends were dead, one just made the other worse. She span round and yelled "DAMN YOU! SHOW YOURSELF!!!!!...." She waited for a response. At that point the darkness was broken by the little pinpricks of red eyes, many hundreds of thousands of them, all watching her, the darkness gradually began to dissolve into nothingness, utter blackness. The red eyes grew more and more intense. The void growing closer, Buffy pressed her back up against the wall of wood that Willow and Xander hung from, as the darkness grew nearer and nearer. The darkness was almost on top of her when there was a high-pitched sound, like a siren.  
  
~*~  
  
Buffy's eyes fluttered open and she looked at her alarm clock, it was blaring away like a really noisy...thing. 'At least it's Wednesday ' She thought to herself.  
  
She peeled back the bed covers and swung her feet over the side of the bed, it was still raining. She could hear it on the windowpane. Buffy never really remembered her dreams, some of the things she had seen in life were stranger than fiction, So when she was in the shower and the sight of the crucified Willow flashed through her mind, it was like an electric shock. Her legs wavered and she felt really dizzy. She leant on the shower cubicle wall for some support. When she felt more prepared, she stepped uneasily out of the cubicle and grabbed a towel. Rapidly she dried off and threw on some clothes. She dropped down onto her bed and picked up her phone. She hit Willows speed dial. A few rings later, the phone was answered.  
  
"Hello?" Said a Familiar Voice  
  
"Will?" asked Buffy  
  
"Yup. The one and only!!" cooed Willow softly "what's up Buff?"  
  
"Oh...erm...no...nothing..." said Buffy, trying to sound normal yet relived all at once.  
  
"That's good..." Willows voice showed that she suspected nothing.  
  
"You wanna meet up somewhere, Will?" said Buffy offhandedly.  
  
"Sure.um.Meet you in the park?"  
  
"Erm, I'd rather not go to the park today."  
  
"How's about the Mall then?" Willow offered, meekly.  
  
"The mall is..." Before Buffy could finish her sentence, she heard a beeping noise in her ear. "...Will, I've got a call waiting...call you back soon okay?"  
  
" 'Kay Buff."  
  
Buffy changed lines and said "Summers Residence."  
  
"Buffy?!" said the calming English tones of her watcher.  
  
"Yes Giles..." Buffy replied.  
  
"Can you and Willow come over and see me please? ...I need to speak to you." Giles' voice was more anxious that usual.  
  
"What about Xander?" she asked, the dream of last night all but replaying in her head.  
  
"He's...He's already here..." stammered Giles obviously not knowing what was running through his slayers Mind.. Xander could be heard in the background yelling his greeting.  
  
"Alright Giles...see you two soon. Bye." They both hung up and Buffy dialed Willow again. As Buffy explained that Giles wanted to see them, she felt a shiver run down her spine, as if someone had walked over her grave. She slowly looked around, when she couldn't see anything, she went back to the phone call.  
  
~*~  
  
It licked it's contorted lips as it moved away from Buffy's window, its wings beating noisily, it looked down on all the humans walking though the streets, it flapped down to street level and started watching them closer... they weren't even acknowledging it. And it knew why...it couldn't help but laugh. 


	3. Summoned

Buffy Closed her front door and slipped her sunglasses off the top of her head and over her puffy eyes, the mirrored shades reflected an average day, here in Sunnydale. The Rain had stopped pouring and the sun had come out, Kids playing, adults working, and her...she laughed to herself and stepped out of her gate and turned toward The Mall. She slipped her headphones in and hit play on her CD player. Loud Guitar music started wailing into her ears. Buffy didn't know why, but had recently developed a penchant for Rock music...the strains of music poured though her mind as she walked, eyes concealed by her sunglasses, she was wearing a pair of tough hiking boots, whilst the rest of her attire was that of summer, a nice pair of red shorts, a black halter top and her hair tied back in a French braid. Before long she met Willow outside the mall. "Hey you..." Started Willow before she was wrapped in a tight hug..."Are you alright, Buffy?"  
  
"Yeah everything is perfect...why?" Buffy answered, not sure who she was trying to convince Willow or herself.  
  
"It's just on the phone you..." Willow began, but Buffy cut her off with a wave of her hand  
  
"Just had weird dream is all..." Willow nodded and gave Buffy one of those award-winning smiles. They grinned together and headed off to the Magic Box, making some small talk about life...the universe. and everything.  
  
~*~  
  
Xander sat in the Magic Box, his feet up on the table, a plate of doughy mess perched between his chest and his knees and a book in one hand. Giles sighed as he was pacing reading a large volume.  
  
"You know, Xander, those things are better toasted." he offered, Xander looked at him Blankly and sniffed again.  
  
"So you've said about 20 times now, it's just this is how I am used to them."  
  
"Xander...." Started Giles before the door opening cut him off. Buffy and Willow walked in as Xander was taking a mouthful.  
  
"EWWWW!" Said Buffy as she laid eyes on Xander's lunch.  
  
"Eating raw crumpets again Xander?" asked Willow as he looked incredulously at Buffy.  
  
In reply to this Xander simply blew his nose loudly in bid to win sympathy...he failed.  
  
"So what's the big emergency, Watcher-man?" He asked, shutting the book with a satisfying thud, He knew Giles hated that name so he went out of his way to say it as much as possible. Not spitefully obviously, but in affection, of course. Or so Xander told himself...and others...frequently.  
  
Giles narrowed his eyes, slowly peeled his glasses from his face and rubbed the bridge of his nose.  
  
"Oh... This can't be good..." chimed in Xander. Everyone else looked at him with a mix of raised eyebrows and open mouths and disbelieving stares. "He only ever does that when he's about to tell us when the world is gonna end...or that we're out of donuts...admittedly they're both disastrous but hey..." he noticed the looks he was getting from people "I'll... stop... talking... now..."  
  
Whilst this entire episode was going on, Giles was merely looking at them all. He sighed. Willow; the ever-faithful friend. Always there, no matter what Buffy and the rest of her Troupe put themselves through. Xander; The wisecracking, yet intense and highly focused, sidekick. And then there was Buffy...What more could be said about Buffy. Stupidly cursed with being the slayer, with many friends...yet alone...no real parental Icon...well there was Joyce, but for Buffy's role, she needed a strong Male Icon. He looked her over, the way she dressed, and then his memory conjured images of the way that other slayers have dressed, and nothing was like this. The French braid and halter-top? Unheard of with any other slayer, but that was Buffy alright... That was HIS Buffy... Giles stopped and mentally slapped himself...he really just thought that didn't he? Was it right for a watcher to become possessive over a Slayer like this? He sighed inwardly...He'd just heard Xander say something about stopping talking...he butted in. "I received this letter, this morning" He said fishing an envelope out of his drawer. All three of them could see that it had not been opened yet.  
  
"Erm, Giles...That like, um... looks like it's from the council and stuff" Willow stammered, remembering the last time the council had written to Giles.  
  
"SEE! I told you it wasn't good!" Said Xander, triumphantly. Once again everyone gave him those looks and he filled his mouth with raw crumpet.  
  
"It could be good news," chimed in Willow, trying to sound perky, yet encouraging. "Like 'Well Done' or something"  
  
"Yeah pass go and collect 200 dollars" Xander mumbled to himself.  
  
Buffy Finally broke her silence..."What they want now? Kill some all- powerful demon? Go rescue some crazy Dhampire woman with a Psycho Vampire Cat?" Buffy trailed off as she felt the assault of Willows withering glare.  
  
Willow had fond memories of Darcy...Of that look on Giles face when Basil first spoke to him, and that part when Xander had his, now legendary, first Crumpet experience. Then she plopped down into a chair next to Xander and looked over at the Watcher. "So ya gonna open it?" She asked.  
  
Giles looked at each of them, Xander and Willow offered encouraging nods, and Buffy merely shrugged, that wasn't surprising he reasoned, she'd found it hard to come to terms with anything that the Council had ordered, since, well, ever really. He slowly broke the wax seal that held the envelope closed and withdrew the paper inside, started to unfold it and stopped, looking at the three again. Then unfolded it fully, his eyes skimmed over the parchment inside and he pinched the bridge of his nose again.  
  
Xander briefly considered doing a victory dance, and then realized just how much pain he would be in several seconds after he started, and just where Buffy's foot would be at that point. "So what's the Beef? Vampire or demon" Xander asked after a few seconds.  
  
"Neither" commented Giles softly, still reading.  
  
"Ah, so it is some 'Well Done' thing like I said right. Finally the council are..." Willow started  
  
"No Willow, it's not. That either"  
  
Buffy had been standing in a corner, becoming anxious. "Then just what the bloody hell do they want?" Xander decided to resist the obvious Spike joke.  
  
"It looks like we are taking a plane flight." Said Giles  
  
Everyone but Xander rolled his or her eyes. "We're going back to England? SWEET! American Crumpets just aren't the same." With that Willow slapped him on the arm really, REALLY hard.  
  
~*~ 


	4. A Long walk

Authors note: A character mentioned in this and some other chapters is Darcy, is from a friends fan fic, and will have little mention, I just promised her Darcy would be mentioned lol

* * *

A large stone floored chamber lit only by the constant flickering of the fire in the enormous hearth. There was a loud resonating sound, the precise and crisp drop of stiletto-heeled footfalls, a shapely female figure wreathed in a black velvet cloak strode across the voluminous chamber. The figures' strides were made with sensuous grace and seductive essence, a sweetly irresistible smile flowed across feminine lips as she crouched to look into the fire, the tongues of licking flame consuming the wood that feeds it, much like the Mantis while mating, she thought to herself. She ran her hands slowly down over her body as she stood again, smoothing the black velvet into her skin, she loved the feeling of it, her vibrant green eyes closed as she savored the run of her hands over every curve of her body and the sensation it created. She paused to enjoy the moment. When She eventually opened her eyes again a stray lock of her sable textured, deep amber hair had broken free of the exquisitely formed bun on the back of her head, she sighed softly and raised a perfectly manicured hand to tuck it behind her slightly upswept ear. She turned and crossed over to a nearby chair. Sinking slowly into it, and letting the ancient leather of the chair creak around her, she allowed herself a self-satisfied sigh. Her hand reached out and removed the top from a nearby decanter, slowly lifting the container, a few glugs of the deep claret wine poured into the awaiting glass and the decanter and top were replaced, exquisitely long fingers curled around the stem of the glass and lifted it from the table and into the air. Her nose hovered over the glass and she inhaled, getting a lovely scent of the wine, she then tasted the crisp tannins melting on her tongue and she settled down to wait..

* * *

That night Xander couldn't sleep. He wasn't on Patrol tonight, which was a good thing, seeing as he couldn't concentrate on anything anyway. He sat watching a random action movie with the traditional Gung-ho explosions. He sat back and thought "Not exactly end of the world stuff though really." It was then that it hit him he could legitimately say that, because he'd damn near witnessed it at least twice. He got up and grabbed his coat and headed out,

One visit to the Espresso Pump later, he skulked though the streets, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a White Chocolate Mocha he'd bought from an all night coffee store. He was staring at the pavement and thinking, thinking about the last time they were in England, with Darcy and Basil and well. He stopped short on himself and looked across the street into the park, and his brow creased as he thought he saw someone he recognized, Darcy! But then he blinked and the image was gone, he frowned and turned away, He knew Darcy was in LA with Angel, Cordy and the others, but why was this hanging over him so badly, he just couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched. It was then he heard a scream, from inside the park. He vaulted over a nearby wall as his hero instincts kicked in,. Then, as soon as he landed, he second-guessed himself as his coward reactions kicked in.

"It is called fight then flight right?" he quipped to himself as he regained his heroism. Then he took off in the direction of the screaming, Ever since he got dragged into Buffy's supernatural fighting universe, he had never really been able to pass up someone who needed him, so he ran on, quicker. As the screaming grew louder Something else Xander had recently learned, after a nasty encounter with a big room and about 15 vampires, was, to not jump in at the deep end, he slowed up as he neared the source and was checking round him cautiously for signs of trouble, he hadn't recognized the voice that was screaming but hey, it sounded female, and females in danger could always do with a Hero type, unless they were Buffy. in which case they usually WERE the hero.

What he wouldn't give to be the hero for once, just once to be the one that save the earth, he couldn't wait to see the look on Buffy's face when that happened. He happened upon a clearing, and saw it, large leather clad, vampire. That was built like, Xander mused, 'One great big muscle on legs'. The Vampire was towering over a local girl, Xander recognized her, he'd seen here out and about. He checked his surroundings once more and reached inside his coat and realized he didn't have any stakes with him, but she needed him. So he acted. Breaking cover into the clearing he shouted, waving his arms.

"Hey. Hey Tons of Fun! Over here."

The vampire looked round, and recognized Xander as one of The slayer's sidekicks, cause you know a few years of staking vamps, your story get around, right. The girl was instantly forgotten. The vampires face contorted as he got his "Game face" on and shouted at Xander.

"You seriously didn't want to do that. I was gonna have a nice snack." As the Vampire spoke, he advanced on the hero wannabe.

"A threat! Good. You know where you are with a good threat." Said Xander, advancing in his own right. They approached each other, the vampire sprung into action leaping high into the air, barreling its shoulder into Xander, who stumbled back, regained his center of gravity and retaliated by swinging his fist in a high arc towards the beasts face, all the while wishing he had Buffy's innate ability to produce a stake from seemingly skimpy clothing. Seeing the blow coming long before it would have struck the best ducked under the flailing strike and landed one of his own. An uppercut. Right on Xander's jaw. The crunching of fist against face could be head from a few meters away. The human Xander was flung high into the air and landed with a cracking sound against a tree. The girl, who he was trying to save, screamed lightly as she saw Xander hurled into the air in this fashion. The Vampire advanced on Xander's still form; he crouched down and looked at Xander's face. Blood trickling from his mouth and nose, and no movement.

"All too easy. Without the Slayer to help them, these humans are easy prey." The Vampire said to himself. Then he felt the piercing sensation in his chest. With lightening speed, Xander had grabbed one of the nearby branches that had been snapped off and used it as a makeshift stake to dispatch of the Vampiric nuisance crouching over him.

He watched in triumph as the Huge Form in front of him crumbled to dust. Xander dusted off his hands and realized a girl was watching him, so he decided a glib witticism would be in order.

"That appears to have gotten to the root of the problem!" he said, only now realizing that after the uppercut, it hurt to talk. Turning on his heels his eyes scanned around the trees.

"Hello?" he asked, looking for the girl he had saved. There was no answer, "Hello, are you there?" he asked again.

Still there was no answer. Xander advanced deeper into the copse of trees in which his battle had taken place, until he found a scrap of cloth, the same pastel blue as the girl's jacket, his worry increased as he saw the bloodstains on it. Then he realized that, said blood was actually dripping from his nose. He looked up again.

"Hello, It's alright he's gone." Xander spoke softly and reassuringly. Then he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the bush to his right was trembling, something easy to spot for it was one of his own favored techniques. He took cautious steps towards it and said.

"Hello.? My Name is Xander, I'm not going to hurt you." He spoke trying to reassure whoever was in the bush, as he parted the foliage he saw the young lady crying and shuddering with cold, or more likely, shock. Shrugging his coat off and placing it over her shoulders, he continued to speak reassuringly.

"I'm here now, You're safe."


	5. The Night Thickens

"Th...Thanks." The young lady stumbled on her words as she walked from the park, Xander's arms around her shoulder

"Not a problem, I've done it..." Xander took a moment to ponder just how often he'd fought supernatural beasts. "...A lot" he said after thinking that a number in triple figures would not help her state "lets just get you safe, okay?"

"I don't know what to say, what was that thing????"

"You really haven't lived in Sunnydale all that long, have you?" asked Xander with a smile..

"N..No, why"

"Well ..um..er..."

"Karen."

"Well Karen, strange things often happen here." He explained as they turned the corner towards the Magic Box, Karen was still shivering even with Xander's jacket and his arm around her. "Living here isn't just real estate.. it's a lifestyle choice." Xander pushed the door to the Magic Box open and guided Karen inside with the arm that was still around her. "We'll be safe here"

"Safe from what??" Asked Anya's voice from behind the counter.

Looking from Anya, to the attractive blonde, back to Anya, back to the attractive blonde. Xander slowly removed his arm from about the girl

"Um I was attacked" said Karen, sensing the tension in the room, as Anya's eyes bore a hole into Xander's chest." By some guy... Xander hit him in the chest and he exploded"

"In the... In the park" said Xander almost too quickly. "Vampire."

"Vam..." Started Karen in surprise

"Oh really? And why were you in the park? You weren't supposed to be on patrol tonight!" said Anya ignoring the blonde

"I um... couldn't sleep"

"V..va.."

"Likely excuse Xander Harris! " Huffed Anya

"EXCUSE ME!" Karen said aloud.. "I'm still trying to deal with the fact that I just had my life saved and my rescuer is saying I was attacked by a vampire!" she flustered..

"Oh Xander is more than likely correct, Young lady" Came the dulcet english tones of Giles as he entered form the back room. Xander looked awkward for a moment,

"Um Karen, This is Anya and Giles. Anya, Giles, This is Karen, " he made introductions because he figured there was little else to do, other than start arguing."Anya, Honey, can I see you in the other room for a moment?"

"Don't "Honey" me Xander Harris! A few years a go I would have turned men inside out for less.." This warranted a VERY confused look from Karen, so reaching over the counter, Xander hooked Anya under the arm and escorted her from the room. Karen watching dumbfounded.

Giles, who had been sitting back on the stairs up to the bookshelves watching the young newcomer while the argument had been going on, finally made himself known. "Please come and sit down" he crossed to the table and pulled out a chair "umm Karen wasn't it?"

"Yes., and you were Mr Giles.. right?"

"Yesyes... Rupert Giles the proprietor of this establishment." He said as he reappeared from the backroom.. He had a bowl of water and a cloth "here, clean yourself up a bit" Giles sat opposite her and he tried to look at her neck.. there were no bite marks that he could see, Xander must have interrupted just at the right time.

"Thank you, Rupert" said Karen as she took the bowl and wet the cloth and started dabbing at her face. This allayed Giles' fears; she hadn't reacted to the holy water she just dabbed on her face.

"Tell me Karen, did this Va..um"

"Vampire.. That's what you were going to say, right? Xander kinda let it slip a little while ago"

"well did this Vampire have any reason to attack you?"

"Well, No not really, I said something to him and he just turned round and backhanded me." Karen was patting the tender area of her cheek with the cool water. Giles took his glasses off and leant forward

"What did you say?"

"I just complimented him on his tattoo.."

"Ta... tattoo?"

"Yeah he had a symbol tattooed on his forearm" on instinct Giles turned and picked up a pencil and paper and pushed them towards Karen

"Please?"

About Ten minutes later, Karen had finished her drawing, amidst having to listen to Xander and Anya in the other room. "talking", Giles had made tea. She set her pencil down.

"I'm not very good at this kinda thing" she tried to make an excuse as Giles picked up the sketch. He looked at it. "It was some kind of eye ball, I'm not sure why it drew my attention but it did.." Karen watched the older gentleman as he was already on his way towards a staircase when the door opened. Karen jumped a little still a little shocked and awed at the events of tonight, her eyes cut to the door, what she saw was a tall, and in he opinion, strikingly handsome Blonde man,Who immediately locked eyes with her.

"Well, Well, Well, what have we here?" the mans English accent made Karen look at Giles.

"Are you 2 related?" she asked the older man.

"No!" affirmed the older man, while the peroxide blonde laughed and approached sitting into a chair next to her.

"The name's Spike, but _you _can call me William."

"Leave the girl alone, Spike. She's just had a rough night."

"What happened, hon?" Spike asked Karen a slight hint of mock concern in his voice.

"I was attacked by a v...vampire." Karen was missing the hint.

"Really?.. you want to watch them... tricky buggers, vampires." Offered Spike with a smile.

"Sorry to interrupt your, no doubt riveting, little téte-ta-téte, Spike. But what ARE you doing here? Enquired Giles , looking over the pages of a small book

"Just popped by to see if you had any supplies." Giles looked up and sighed

"There are some in the fridge over there" he said.. "You should be glad I think to keep some around for you Spike." Karen blinked between the 2..

"Oh..cold?" Spike sounded dejected "can I at least use your microwave?" Giles just looked at him, Spike nodded his head and crossed to the fridge and pulled something out unseen and tossed it into the microwave. "So you get saved by the slayer?" Spike directed this at Karen.

"N...no... a guy named Xander."

"Really?" Laughed spike as he pulled his now microwaved goodie out, bit into it and was now sucking

"Yeah he..." It took a few seconds to sink in that Spike was drinking from a blood bag "V...VAMPIRE!" she screamed and fell backward off her chair..

"Well I'm certainly not the tooth fairy" quipped Spike as Xander emerged form the backroom to check everything was allright.

"VAMPIRE!" Screamed Karen again as she scrambled to her feet and headed to the door

"Oh... I'm sorry" said Spike pulling the blood bag from his lips somewhat nonplussed "Want to share?" But Karen was already tearing the door to the magic box open and heading out into the night. Xander fixed Spiked with a glare and ran out after her.. a few seconds later he ran back in picked up a weapon

"Just in case" he said sheepishly

and then ran out again the night swallowing him as he disappeared.


End file.
